Fossils recovered from an old mine on a desolate mountain in Morocco have rocked one of the most enduring foundations of the human story: that Homo sapiens arose in a cradle of humankind in East Africa 200,000 years ago.

Archaeologists unearthed the bones of at least five people at Jebel Irhoud – a former barite mine 100km west of Marrakesh – in excavations that lasted years.

They knew the remains were old but were stunned when dating tests revealed that a tooth and stone tools found with the bones were about 300,000 years old.